Stockholm hidden jewels (first attempt)

A friend of mine in Colombia asked me to write something about some less known highlights of Stockholm, the interesting places, activities or traditions not included usually in tourist guides. I have not yet written it, so I am trying to think aloud here about this and the result could be less than the 10 he asked. In the meanwhile, if you read Spanish, you can check his fabulous blog about geography, politics, flags, history… http://blogdebanderas.com/

Disclaimer: although I mention some commercial brands I do not intend to advertise them nor I receive any kind of retribution

Nature, parks: Maybe going to a park and have a passive recreation is not for 3 day tourism but for people spending a lot of time in this city. If you have the chance to be one of us, go out and walk the city. Very soon you will find a green patch or a beautiful lake or sea shore. I love to walk by Djurgården island (north and south sides) or going to Haga Parken or walking by Norr Mâlarstrand, the little pond of Råstajôn near my home, Ulriksdal Castle and countless more. Do not miss this weekend the Day of dead’s in Skogskyrkogarden.

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Ice cream: Fryst. A Swedish friend of mine said it is the best Ice Cream place in Stockholm. It is a serious statement but I can say that the ice cream is very good, with non-traditional flavors. It is a very small place, the ice cream is to take away because it is very very tiny place and now that winter is coming they have fewer options and open fewer days during the week. Anyway, there are many good places in Stockholm to have a gelato, an ice cream.

Coffee: Johan & Nystrôm Koncept Butik, Drop Coffee. Two places to drink specialty coffee and to buy it for the consumption in your house. Those are the ones I know with beans from many different places in the world and staff really experienced and skilled. And they are very kind, also.

Mexican food: La Neta. It is not really hidden, it is well known but even the Mexican visitors say that it is a place to have decent Mexican food. Something that people from Spain cannot say about most of or all the “tapas” places around the city.

Art in Stockholm metro: there is a short guided tour by SL staff that starts from T-Centralen. You do not see many stations but it could be the first step to visit all T-Bana stations, many of them with very interesting artwork. Information in English http://sl.se/en/eng-info/contact/art-walks/

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Milesgården: The house that Karl Miles built and where many of his artworks are kept as well as his personal art collection. A peaceful place that also is an art gallery with beautiful temporary art exhibitions.

Music hall: they say that Berwaldhallen is a nice music hall built in the rocks of a hill. I have not been there yet.

Strandvägen, from Raoul Wallengberg torg to Djurgården: It was my favorite place in Stockholm until I found Skeppsholmen.

Skeppsholmen: a small island very near the Grand Hotel and Kungsträdgården. There you can find, for instance, the Moderna Museet. But it is worth the walk and also going to Kastellholmen. In Skeppsholmen you can have a coffee in the terrace of Skeppsholmen hotel. Very calmed, very quiet. Although the coffee is not memorable, the place is.

There are many others places: The huge kanelbullar of Saturnus and Egoiste, Pain au chocolat from Petit France and Gateau, Crepes in Fyra Knop, afternoon tea in Grand Hotel, Akki sushi… As you can see my jewels are related to food 🙂 And, for sure, you have your own jewels. You can talk also about the number of public pools, the baths (badet, hammam), the rooftop tours, balloon tours and all the towns surrounding the city, as Sigtuna.

Now I have some of the places I will include in the blog post for my friend but I need to do it three times longer with more pictures.

You will have enough time to visit many of them and other 🙂 And there are also some more exclusive restaurants with Michaelin stars or included in the white guide (something like the Michelin guide but for Sweden)
Now I notice that i forgot to include the round hall in the library of Stockholm by Odenplan. It is really magic.